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Interesting you mentioned Japan. I hadn't really thought about the Japanese as a special situation to consider but, since my wife is a Japanese MD/PhD, the two of us might find it interesting to search through the literature to see what there is about MS in Japan. One might imagine there is a geographical difference between north and south but I don't know if they have seen it. I'll see what we can find. They were pretty much a closed society until after WWII. Even now, there have been times/places, like in Kanazawa on the west coast where I have gone for 2-3 days without seeing any other gaijins (foreigners). Their medical services are very good but, until recently doctors did not often tell the patient what the problem was, ex. stomach cancer was treated as cancer but the patient might be told it was an ulcer. They had one very interesting and profound fictional TV show about a sick doctor who was told he had a stomach ulcer. He figured it was really cancer and it made him realize how his previous doctor/patient talks had perhaps shortchanged the patients from really making proper plans for their end. My wife and I translate Japanese medical articles. Haven't had any on MS yet. But the quality of the medicine and the research study methods in Japan as we see them in the articles are pretty much the same as in the US and Europe.

It seems to be the easiest thing in the world to believe that attacks of viruses or bacteria and counter attacks by the immune system are responsible for relapses, lesions and remissions but I've never seen any research showing evidence of viruses or bacteria in or around the area of lesions.

I think some researchers have found some evidence of viruses in and around lesions. For instance:

in Ontario its terrible you can wait up to 2 years for an MRI. it just doesnt make sense for them to make house calls. our GPs know very little about research and what is being studied. my GP is great, i can tell him what i'd like to try or what ive read and he'll do some research on his own to try and help me or stop me if necessary.

Well, I live in Ontario as well and you don't wait 2 years for an MRI. The medical system here practices triage and those who need urgent medical care first, get it immediately...including MRI's. Those who require elective medical care or care that can wait are placed lower down the list and that can result in waits for several weeks....again, depending on the situation.

If my wife wants a general check-up at the MS Clinic here, she could wait for a year to get this. But if she were having a serious attack and needed to be seen right away, she would receive immediate attention from the clinic, probably through the emergency department and likely admitted if that was necessary. The MS Clinic has over 6,000 patients and they expect your GP to handle your everyday afflications.

I will agree that the quality of GP's varies a great deal. Some of them keep up to date as well as they can and are excellent. Some I wouldn't let touch my cat let alone me or my wife.

i disagree harry no way are you gonna get a mri within weeks
now the ms clinic at st mikes in toronto you can get in within weeks
or they are overbooked in surgury and they bump you i think most gp's are so busy they can't keep up with everything but most try i really question the quality of neors

mom10789 wrote:i disagree harry no way are you gonna get a mri within weeksnow the ms clinic at st mikes in toronto you can get in within weeksor they are overbooked in surgury and they bump you i think most gp's are so busy they can't keep up with everything but most try i really question the quality of neors

You can get an MRI within a couple of hours if its critical that you need one. My wife worked in the world of medicine for over 25 years. She was in charge of the Critical Care Units at various hospitals within Toronto. When they had very ill patients come to her unit and they required a MRI, they got an MRI pretty much immediately.

When Marg was taking part in a MS drug trial here in London in the mid
90' s, she would get an MRI every month for the entire year. One such scheduled MRI was delayed for about an hour because an emergency patient came in and the patient needed an MRI immediately...and the patient got one immediately.

Now you may have experienced a long delay in waiting for a MRI for whatever procedure you required but the fact remains that if you need one today, you get one today in the Ontario health care system. You certainly don't wait for 2 years like you suggested in your earlier message.

well maybe things are better there i waited two years in oshawa
maybe your health care is quicker but i'm telling you it was two years
i was at the ms clinic very quickly i almost went to kingston for a mr
but i do agree emergencies go in quickly places like belleville ,oshawa and sorrounding areas are begging for doctors,nurses and radiologists our emergency rooms are a nightmare i just booked my neor appt yesterday and they are booking for nov he is taking a two week vacation for the summer so it might have been oct in sudbury you can get a mri fairly quickly
harry i'm glad you can get things done quickly but things are not the same all over ontario

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